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Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Paella Cooking Class at Extra Virgin Fine Foods

Paella perhaps is the most popular dish
ordered in Spanish restaurants. It must be the various vibrant flavours, the
different textures and vivid colours that can be experienced in this dish. It
is one food that is very dear to me. Whilst growing up in the Philippines, our
family gatherings would normally include Paella Valenciana and Lechon (suckling
pig). Paella is also something I would cook nowadays on special occasions.

What may seem very grand and
intimidating to cook can now be easily

re-created at home! Thanks to Extra
Virgin Fine Foods Restaurant’s Paella Cooking Class, they have made paella
cooking easier. They have formulated a method and recipe to make cooking paella
almost fool proof but without compromising the great taste of excellent paella.

Extra
Virgin Fine Foods is an award-winning
tapas restaurant in Crows Nest, Sydney. It is named after the Extra Virgin Fine
Foods brand that sells a range of homemade sauces, sangria syrup and olive
oils, which are all based on traditional family recipes. The managing director,
Mauricio Moreno and Head Chef, Vincent Girardin are the two driving forces of
this magnificent restaurant. The restaurant’s décor is very Mediterranean in
style. The one thing I’ve noticed most is that they are very unpretentious
considering they were crowned “Favourite Spanish Restaurant in NSW in the
Lifestyle Channel’s I Love Food Awards 2012”.

Back to the class, a few other fellow
bloggers and I were privileged to participate in their paella cooking class and
honored to have cooked in their kitchen. Chef Vincent started by welcoming us
to the class and gave us a brief background on paella and the process involved
in creating it. A recipe was provided before we started. We then entered the
kitchen and were each provided with ingredients that were prepared beforehand
and cooking utensils. Chef Vincent and his cook were there to guide and assist
us through the whole process.

Flambé baby!

We started infusing the flavours from
the chorizo (house made), prawns, calamari, and mussels (with wine and covered
to steam cook) into the pan by slightly cooking the ingredients.

All the above ingredients are then set
aside and in goes other sofrito (house made). The rice is later evenly poured
into the pan. A warm saffron stock and veal stock (house made) also goes into
the pan. The rice is pushed around side to side to let the stock penetrate the
rice. Seasoning and paprika are added to intensify the flavour. All the
ingredients that were set aside in the early stages of process are returned
into the pan and rendered.

At the end of the class, we enjoyed the
fruits of our labour with some sangria, croquetas de queso and tortilla con
boquerones y mojama.

Paella

The paella
is very smoky and rich in flavour. The rice is very moist and almost sticky in
consistency. The rice bottom is also toasted. This is probably one of the best
paellas I’ve had in Sydney.

The croquetas
de queso is a three-cheese croqueta, crumbed then fried. The outer layer is
has panko crumbs cooked to perfect crisp with flavourful mushy cheese innards.

This class (worth $95pp) is suitable for
cooks of any level. The techniques, ingredients and process are properly
explained. By the end of the class, you will be equipped with basic
paella cooking skills and knowledge to make your own homemade paella. The class
runs on a Saturday from 3pm – 5pm. For more information, visit http://www.extravirginfinefoods.com.au/classes.html.

Ramen Raff participated in the Paella Cooking Class and dined as a guest courtesy of Extra Virgin Fine Foods and Helen Lear.

Paella is one of my favourite dishes to cook; so much that I requested a paella pan for my 21st birthday ages ago lol Looks like an interesting class. I'm curious about the sangria mix though, what do you add it to? White wine?

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